10 LEG WORKOUTS TO GET STRONGER, SCULPTED LEGS

Building strong legs is fundamental for every fitness routine, but it can be tough to figure out what is the best workout to tone your legs. At EōS Fitness, we are here to ensure that you’re always ready for leg day.

Below are ten different leg workouts that can elevate leg day, whether you’re a beginner or regular gym-goer.

So, tie your sneakers and get ready to embark on your leg-strengthening adventure with us.

PREPARING YOUR LEGS FOR A LOWER BODY STRENGTH WORKOUT

If you want to reach your full potential during leg workouts, you need a solid warm-up to lay the foundation.

A good warm-up helps:

• Enhances muscle elasticity
• Reduces stiffness
• Helps avoid sprains and strains

With these warm-ups for your leg day workout routine, you can prime your legs for exercise and feel confident as you tackle your session!

Leg-Day Warm-Ups

Dynamic Stretching

• Leg Swings: Stand next to a wall for balance. Swing one leg forward and back 15 times, then side-to-side 15 times with controlled movements. Repeat with your other leg for a total of 2 minutes.

• Inchworms: Start standing upright. Hinge at your hips, hands to the ground and walk them forward to a plank. Walk your feet to your hands, stand up and repeat for 8-10 reps for 2 minutes.
• Lunges with a Twist: Start with your feet hip-width apart. Step into a lunge and twist towards the front leg. Return to standing, alternate legs and complete 12 lunges per side for 2-3 minutes.

Cardio Exercises (5-10 minutes):

• Light Jog or Stationary Bike: Focus on gradually increasing your heart rate and body temperature over 3-4 minutes, preparing your muscles for the workout.

Conclude with Activation Exercises (4-5 minutes):

• Bodyweight Squats: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Squat while keeping your chest up and back straight. Stand up through your heels, doing 20-25 squats in 2 minutes.

• Walking Lunges: Start with your feet together. Step forward into alternating lunges. Continue for 24 total lunges (12 per leg) for 2 minutes.

• Glute Bridges: Lie on your back with your knees bent. Lift your hips up, squeezing your glutes, then lower back down. Do 20-25 reps in 1-2 minutes.

10 LEG EXERCISES TO STRENGTHEN & SCULPT

Want to know how to sculpt your legs?

Then you came to the right place. These leg workouts cater to all fitness levels and focus on a total lower-body workout. With a balanced mix of dynamic movements and weighted exercises, these 10 leg exercises will build muscle and boost your lower-body strength.

1. Squats: The Ultimate Leg Builder

Squats are the cornerstone of leg strengthening exercises. They’re a compound movement that engages the major lower body muscle groups, like your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.

The Benefits of Squats as Leg Toning Exercises

• Strengthens the Lower Body: Squats target multiple muscle groups in your lower body, improving muscle mass and strength.
• Improves Balance and Stability: Performing squats during your leg workouts also engages your core, helping to improve your balance and stability.
• Increases Flexibility: Regular squatting increases joint flexibility in the hips, knees, and ankles.
• Boosts Athletic Performance: Squats build your functional strength, helping improve athletic performance and everyday movement.

Squats to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Basic Front Squat (Bodyweight): Stand with your feet apart and arms forward. Squat, moving your hips back and keeping your knees over your toes. Then rise, keep your core tight and arms straight.
• Sumo Squats: Stand with your feet wide and toes out. Clasp your hands for balance, squat low, move your hips back and keep your chest up. Rise, driving through your heels, keeping your knees wide and aligned with your toes.
• Bulgarian Split Squat: Stand in front of a bench and place one foot back on it. Lower into a squat with the front thigh parallel to the floor and keep your front knee over your toes. Push up through the front heel, keeping your core engaged.

2. Lunges: Leg and Glute Activation

Lunges are highly versatile leg exercises that target the lower body, especially your glutes.

Why You Should Add Lunges to Your Leg Workouts

• Promote Balanced Muscle Growth: Lunges work each leg independently due to their unilateral nature, correcting muscle imbalances and promoting equal strength development.
• Engage Multiple Muscle Groups: These leg toning exercises target the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves, as well as the core for stabilization.
• Adaptable to Various Fitness Levels: Lunges help you reach many types of fitness goals, so they’re perfect to add to your daily leg workouts.
• Enhance Muscle Endurance and Strength: Regular practice improves endurance and strength in the targeted muscles.

Lunges to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Forward Lunges: Start with your feet together and step forward into a lunge, keep your front knee over your ankle. Don’t let your back knee touch the floor. Press into your front heel to stand and alternate legs.

• Reverse Lunges: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and step back into a lunge. Keep your front thigh parallel to the floor and front knee over ankle. Push through your front heel to stand and switch legs.

• Lateral Lunges: Start with your feet together and step out to the side. Bend one knee and push your hips back. Keep the other leg straight with your knee over your foot. Push off to return to start and alternate sides.

3. Deadlifts: Powerlifting for Leg Strength

Deadlifts are essential for strengthening your legs and back, but they’re only helpful as long as you don’t hurt yourself. Proper technique is crucial to maximizing benefits and minimizing injury risk.

To reduce injury risk, focus on:

• Lifting with your legs and hips
• Keeping your spine neutral
• Not rounding your back

Start with light weights and gradually increase with safety gear, like belts and shoes, to stay safe while still giving yourself a challenge.

How Deadlifts Improve Your Leg Day Exercises

• Strengthen Legs and Back: Deadlifts target the posterior chain (your calves, hamstrings, glutes, lats and spine muscles) for better lower body and back strength.
• Increase Muscle Mass and Grip Strength: Deadlifts promote muscle growth and grip strength through regular lifting.
• Improve Posture and Core Stability: The exercises strengthen back muscles and core, so you’ll have better posture and be less likely to injure yourself.

Deadlifts to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

Romanian Deadlifts

• Start Position: Begin with feet hip-width apart, holding a barbell in front of your thighs with an overhand grip. Your knees should be slightly bent.
• Movement: Hinge at your hips to lower the barbell down the front of your legs, keeping it close to your body. Lower until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, maintaining a slight knee bend throughout.
• Return: Drive through your heels, extending your hips to return to the starting position. Keep your back straight and core engaged throughout the movement.

Sumo Deadlifts

• Start Position: Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, toes pointing outwards. Grip the barbell with your hands inside your legs.
• Movement: Bend at the knees and hips to lower down and grasp the bar, keeping your chest up and back straight. Your thighs should be almost parallel to the floor.
• Return: Drive through your heels, straightening your legs and hips to lift the barbell up to the starting position. Ensure your back remains neutral and keep your core engaged throughout the lift.

4. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Building Cardiovascular Endurance

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a dynamic workout method that optimizes calorie expenditure and ramps up metabolic rates by cycling through intense activity bursts and brief rest or lower-intensity phases. This approach is the perfect addition to any leg sculpting workout.

The Benefits of HIIT Workouts to Tone Your Legs

• Enhance Leg Development and Cardiovascular Health: HIIT targets legs with specific exercises while improving heart and lung function for increased endurance.
• Accelerate Fat Loss and Metabolism: Maximizes calorie burn during and after workouts to help manage your weight and increase your metabolic rate.
• Adaptable Across Fitness Levels: Modifications make these exercises accessible to beginners and challenging for the more seasoned gym-goers.
• Versatile and Engaging Workouts: HIIT incorporates a variety of exercises to keep things interesting while still being super effective.

HIIT Exercises to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Burpees: Stand with your feet apart. Squat, place hands down, kick back into a plank, and do a push-up. Jump back to a squat, then leap up with your arms overhead.

• Modified Burpee: Stand with your feet apart, squat to place hands down, step back into plank, perform a push-up (knees optional), step back to squat, and stand up, reaching your arms overhead.
• Jump Squats: Start in a squat with your back straight. Jump up with arm assistance. Land back in squat softly.

• Modified Jump Squat: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, squat down, keeping your weight in your heels, then stand up partially and do a small hop, landing softly back in your squat position.
• High Knees: Stand with your feet apart. Run in place, knees high, arms moving.

• Modified High Knees: Stand upright and march in place, lifting your knees high at a moderate pace, engaging your core while maintaining a straight posture.
• Push-Ups with Shoulder Taps: Start in a plank with your hands shoulder-width apart. Do a push-up, elbows in. At the top, tap each shoulder with the opposite hand.

• Modified Push-Ups with Shoulder Taps: Begin in a knee-supported push-up position, lower your body towards the floor, push back up, and then tap each shoulder alternately with the opposite hand while keeping your body stable.

5. Leg Press: Targeted Muscle Building

The leg press machine is a staple in gyms, since it’s a piece of equipment designed for the sole purpose of strengthening and sculpting your legs. Doing leg workouts on a leg press offers a controlled environment to target specific muscle groups without the balance requirements of free weights. Anyone looking to build muscle mass and improve leg strength should add the leg press to their routine.

Why Use the Press Machine for Leg Toning Exercises?

• Isolate Lower Body: This machine focuses on leg muscles without the risk of off-balance or insufficient stability that can sometimes occur with free weights.
• Encourage Symmetrical Development: The leg press helps your muscles develop evenly across both of your legs.
• Safely Manage Heavier Weights: A machine safely supports a significant weight load, so no need to worry about injuring yourself when you want a bit more of a challenge.

Leg Exercises and Foot Placement with the Leg Press

Adjusting your stance and foot placement allows you to work different muscle groups, so you can easily customize your workouts based on your goals.

Wide Stance: A wide stance emphasizes the inner thigh muscles and glutes.

• Start Position: Sit on the leg press machine with your back and head against the padded support. Place your feet on the sled wider than shoulder-width, with toes slightly pointed out.
• Movement: Slowly lower the sled by bending your knees until they are at about a 90-degree angle.
• Return: Press through your heels to extend your legs and push the sled back to the starting position.

Narrow Stance: A narrow stance more intensely targets the outer thighs and quadriceps.

• Start Position: Position your feet on the sled closer than shoulder-width apart, with toes pointing forward.
• Movement: Bend your knees to lower the sled, maintaining a narrower angle than your wide stance.
• Return: Extending your legs, push the sled back to the starting position.

6. Calf Raises: Sculpting Lower Legs

Calf raises build the calf muscles, specifically your gastrocnemius and soleus, and double as a strength-building leg workout for the ankles. Just include calf raises 2-3 times a week in your routine, starting with 3 sets of 12-15 reps each to target your whole leg, not just the calves.

Benefits and Importance of Calf Development

• Improve Lower Body Function: Strengthening calf muscles improves how your lower body moves and feels.
• Support Leg Mobility and Stable Movements: Improved calf strength leads to more stable and efficient walking, running, and jumping.
• Prevent Injuries: Well-developed calves help support the lower leg muscles and reduce the strain on the Achilles tendon.

Different Raises to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Heel Raises: Stand on a step with your heels off the edge. Press down through the balls of your feet to lift your heels high and engage your calves. Lower your heels below the step for one rep.

• Seated Calf Raises: Sit with a weight on your lap and your feet on a platform. Push through the balls of your feet to lift the weight, focusing on using your calf muscles. Lower back to start.

• Leg Press Calf Raises: Sit in a leg press machine with your feet apart on the sled. Extend your legs, pushing through the balls of your feet to lift the sled. Lower slowly back.

7. Plyometric Exercises: Building Explosive Strength

Plyometric exercises, or “plyos,” boost power, speed, and agility through explosive movements and the stretch-shortening cycle, which is great for athletes who want to boost their performance.

Benefits of Plyometrics

• Enhance Muscular Power and Explosiveness: Plyometrics increase the strength and speed of your muscle contractions, giving your movements even more power.
• Improve Agility: Since they’re so dynamic, these leg exercises enhance your ability to quickly change direction, making them a helpful tool for athletes and anyone focused on improving performance.
• Increase Efficiency of Movements: If you stay consistent with it, you can move more efficiently overall, whether in your favorite sports game or just going about your daily life.

Plyometric Exercises to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Box Jumps:  Face a sturdy box with feet apart. Squat slightly, then jump onto the box with arm support to propel yourself forward. Step down and get ready for the next jump.

• Jump Squats: Start in a squat with your feet apart. Jump up with arm momentum. Land softly back in a squat.

• Bounding: Run forward, exaggerating each stride for forward and upward motion. Continue for the set distance or bounds. Focus on control and balance.

8. Glute Bridges and Hip Thrusts: Growing Stronger Glutes

Glute exercises strengthen and define your backside, giving your legs more stability to support walking and jumping. They can also add variety to your leg workout routine, making it the perfect addition.

Benefits of Glute Bridges & Hip Thrusts

• Improve Posture and Core Stability: Strengthening these muscles can improve your core stability and align your pelvis, leading to better posture and support.
• Enhance Athletic Performance: Glutes help you build more power and improve performance when playing sports.
• Prevent Injuries: Strengthening the glutes and hamstrings helps reduce the risk of injuries to the lower back, hips, and knees.
• Versatile and Progressive: With variations and progression options, these exercises cater to different fitness levels and goals for continuous improvement.

Proper Form and Progression Techniques

When doing glute bridges and hip thrusts, you need to maintain a neutral spine and a tucked chin to avoid neck and back strain. Begin with body weight, then you can gradually add some more weight as your strength improves. Prioritize movement quality and full range, emphasizing a strong glute squeeze at the top of each rep to really work those muscles.

• Glute Bridge: Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat. Push through your heels to lift your hips, squeezing your glutes at the top. Lower your hips to start for one rep.

• Hip Thrust: Sit with your shoulders against a bench, barbell over your hips and knees bent. Drive through your heels to extend your hips, lifting the weight, and squeeze your glutes at the top. Lower to start for one rep.

9. Stair Climbing Machine: Everyday Leg Workouts

Stair climbing machines are efficient leg workouts that combine cardio endurance with lower-body strength, delivering a full lower-body workout and improved aerobic fitness. It’s easy to add a stair-climbing machine to your gym routine for 15-20 minutes to enhance your leg workout for strong legs​.

Benefits of Stair Climbing Machine Workouts

• Improve Cardiovascular Health: Stair climbing strengthens the heart and can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Increase Lower Body Strength: Stair climbs target the full range of lower body muscles, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves, improving strength and endurance without all the extra weights.
• Minimize Impact: Stair climbing is gentle on joints and suitable for individuals with joint pain or recovering from injuries.
• Versatile: Versatile machine settings allow speed and intensity adjustment, catering to users of all fitness levels.

Stair Climbing Exercises to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Steady Climb: Involves a steady 20-30 minute pace, ideal for endurance and easy to include in daily routines, like opting for stairs over elevators.
• Interval Climb: Alternating fast climbing for 1-2 minutes with slower recovery for 2-3 minutes over 20-30 minutes, boosting cardiovascular fitness and leg endurance.

10. Resistance Band Leg Workouts: Leg Strength and Flexibility

Resistance band training enhances your leg strength and flexibility by providing variable resistance throughout exercises. It challenges your muscles in a way that’s different from free weights or machines. The elasticity of the bands helps improve both the strength and flexibility of the muscles, offering a full range of motion and effectively targeting various muscle groups.

Benefits of Resistance Band Training

• Adaptable Resistance: As you stretch the band, the resistance increases, challenging your muscles through their full range of motion.
• Versatile: Resistance bands can be used for a wide range of exercises, targeting all major leg muscles.
• Portable and Convenient: Lightweight and compact, resistance bands are ideal for workouts at home, in the gym, or while traveling.
• Improve Flexibility and Mobility: The bands build strength and enhance flexibility and joint mobility through stretching and active recovery exercises.

Resistance Band Exercises to Try During Your Leg Day Workout Routine

• Lateral Walk: Place a resistance band above your knees and squat slightly—sidestep, keeping the band tense—alternate directions after several steps.

• Monster Walk: Place the resistance band around your ankles with your knees slightly bent. Step diagonally forward, then back, mimicking a monster’s stride.

• Banded Squats: Place the resistance band above your knees with your feet apart. Squat, pushing knees out, then stand through heels.
• Banded Leg Curls: Lie flat on your back, loop a resistance band around your feet, then slowly curl your legs towards your glutes while keeping your core engaged.

YOGA AND STRETCHING FOR LEG RECOVERY

Incorporating yoga and stretching into your leg workouts helps repair and strengthen your muscles after your workout session. Yoga and stretching can also significantly reduce soreness by supporting muscle repair, so you can stick to your routine without needing extra recovery days.

If you’re ready to cool down after some intense leg exercises, here are some yoga poses you can try:

• Downward Dog: Begin on your hands and knees with your hands slightly ahead of your shoulders. Lift your knees, extend your tailbone, press your heels down, and straighten your legs without locking, focusing on stretching your arms and legs before releasing.
• Pigeon Pose: From Downward Dog, bring your right knee forward to touch the right wrist, angle your right foot towards your left hand, and extend your left leg back. Lower your torso to deepen the stretch in the right glute, then gently release and switch legs
• Warrior II: Stand with your feet apart and arms parallel to the floor. Turn your right foot slightly and your left foot out 90 degrees, keeping your heels aligned. Bend your left knee over your ankle so that your shin is perpendicular to the floor, then switch sides.
  

HOW TO GET STRONGER LEGS WITH EōS

Crafting an effective leg workout means choosing the right exercises to reach your fitness goals. Don’t be afraid to add some variety to your workouts, whether you do some squats or get into different machine exercises, as it lets you activate all your major leg muscles.

Elevate your leg training with a membership at EōS Fitness. Gain access to state-of-the-art equipment and classes for the ultimate leg sculpting workout. You can also meet with one of our Personal Trainers for personalized guidance and to create a tailored workout routine.

Join EōS Fitness today to build challenging leg workouts that support your goals and start feeling better than ever.